Alarm systems of the prior art rely on one-time triggering mechanisms whereby the alarms are sounded upon the detection of an emergency event and then only turned off by authorized individuals when they have determined that the emergency has been resolved. These alarm systems are generic in nature, sounding the same alarm for a host of different types of emergencies. The generic nature of these alarms lead to additional stress and confusion during an emergency because the generic alarms fail to provide individuals with any meaningful information. The alarms merely alert the individuals that an emergency is occurring but provide no instruction as to the safest action to take (shelter in place, exist via a practiced route, or exit via a revised route based the location of the emergency). Further, generic alarms are often ineffective in alerting individuals who are hearing impaired or have other disabilities. Even if the alarms are configured with flashing lights, these lights are typically focused in one area of a large location and may not be sufficient in getting an individual's attention because they commonly use only white lights which are indistinguishable from ambient lights.
Other alarm systems of the prior art are designed to convey emergency information to an individual's mobile phone or to an electronic display or other signage present at a location of interest. Such a configuration has significant limitations. First, not all individuals will have access to a mobile phone in the event of an emergency. For example, students in school, patients in a hospital, or residents of long-term care facilities are often targets of emergency situations and do not have easy access to mobile devices. Alarm systems that are dependent on mobile devices are therefore ineffective in addressing emergencies among a population's most vulnerable individuals.
Alarm systems that rely on electronic displays or other signage are equally ineffective. These systems require significant construction cost and time because the various displays must be fabricated and installed. These displays must be large in size and obvious in nature so that individuals will be able to read the information in the event of an emergency. The larger the displays, the more space is lost which is not practical at smaller locations such as classrooms or hospital rooms. Further, the obvious nature of the displays means that they can be easily disabled by a threat actor during an emergency, just like traditional alarm systems are easily disabled, rendering them completely ineffective.
Other alarm systems of the prior art utilize ambient lighting in an attempt to map an exit route for individuals during an emergency. This use of ambient lighting presents the same disadvantages as generic alarm systems in that ambient lighting is incapable of providing any meaningful information about the nature of the particular emergency. Further, the use of ambient lighting is not sufficiently noticeable in the event of an emergency because individuals are conditioned to seeing it.
There exists a need for an alarm method that can not only alert individuals of an emergency, but also provide meaningful information about the specific nature of the emergency and instructions as to how to respond. It is critical that this alarm method be adaptable to enable the dissemination of critical information in a variety of different environments and to a variety of different individuals. The alarm method should also be capable of providing dynamic, real-time information that can be continuously updated as the status of the emergency changes.